Comrades
by wayofthepen
Summary: A very short bit I originally wrote and posted on /tg/. Set in an alternate WW2 scenario where pokemon were involved in the war.
1. Chapter 1

I really bought into the propaganda, you know? Enlist now! Fight to defend the free world, for honor and glory and all that. A slice of apple pie with every victory.

Wasn't long before I found out the real world is nothing like that.

I was a solid shot and had a talent for moving quietly. Got pushed into a special course. Sniper school. I was rushed through, not 'cause they thought I was good, but because of how hard the allies were getting hit over here.

I understand how things work now. My old company is gone, every last man. I'm the only one left. I didn't know 'em very long, but it still hurt to see them go.

I never made it back to the allied lines. Had to go forwards. Picked up a new company along the way.

I'm not sure when they showed up. Maybe they were always there, just watching the war from the sidelines. Watching us kill each other.

I talk to them, but they don't reply. Sometimes they help me out, letting me know when someone's sneaking up on me or where the landmines are buried. Only ever got one word out of them.

"Ghastly."

I like the sound of that.

One of them appears by my shoulder, a little line like a mouth curving up in a smile. His way of telling me there's Germans around. What, you think I ran away? That I wasn't still fighting? Hell no! I know what'll happen to the world if the Nazis have their way.

More of 'em appear, floating around me, watching as I unsling my rifle and give it a quick check, every one of them smiling like it's a regular day at the beach.

They know the show is about to begin, and I never disappoint.


	2. Chapter 2

I suppose…it's been a good life. I fought in the Great War, and that means I'll get a fancy ceremony when I finally kick it, get buried in a big field alongside people I once knew.

I met a girl when I got back. Younger then me, and knowing her took the edge off the memories and nightmares the war left me with. I settled down with her, raised a family. I'd become a grandfather just a few years back.

My kids brought their kids to see me today. I sat up and played the tough soldier for them, so none of them would walk away knowing just what war does to men. They shouldn't know. Nobody should. Besides, today would be the last time I'd see them. I know I'm going tonight, because they told me.

Haven't seen them in nigh on fifty years, and then they pop up and let me know that tonight's my last night on earth. Jerks.

I can feel them gathering around the bed. Just appearing, or walking through the walls easy as you please. They seem sad. I didn't think they could get sad. Most people don't even believe they exist, and those that do go on about 'semi-solid weird matter' or 'compacted energy bundles.' Rubbish. Just tell it like it is.

They're ghosts, and I know them all. Hell, I'd given them names one day because it seemed like a good way to keep from going nuts at the time. My friend, the first one to give me his name, is floating at my feet. Waiting. That weird little face showing all the grief it can. He's a little bigger then I remember.

I raise my hand. Salute them one last time. They helped me, and the allies, more then anyone can know.

They hit the attending nurses with hypnosis on the way in. No one notices the alarm as my vitals flat-line. No one hears my hand fall. 'Cept for them, of course.

"Gengar…"

A Ghastly floats over, lifting the lifeless arm hanging over the side of the bed and folding it gently over the man's chest. Another shuts off the obnoxious mechanical beeping.

Then there is only a chill in the air, and the room is empty.

* * *

As I mentioned, this was oringinally posted on the /tg/ board of 4chan. (If you don't know, be warned, wretched hive of scum, villainy, monstergirl porn, etc) But during a particularly epic thread, a hypothetical WW2 setting was developed where pokemon fought in the war. The thread ended with a crack team of allied commandos storming hitler's bunker with specially-trained dark- and psychic-type pokemon, in order to defeat the german's last ditch effort at victory, the creation of a pokemon superweapon, Mewtwo.

The thread may still be in the archives, if you're interested.


End file.
